Weingarten is Receptive To National Shifts On Merit Pay and Tenure

In her first major speech since becoming president of the American Federation of Teachers in July, Randi Weingarten told the National Press Club Nov. 17 that she was willing to tackle "the tough issues like Teacher assignments, tenure and differentiated pay" as a new President enters the White House.

TRYING TO MANAGE CHANGE: American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said she is open to negotiating matters, from a more-rigorous tenure process to bonuses for Teachers based on student achievement and their willingness to work in troubled schools, that Teacher unions have resisted in the past. Aside from vouchers, she said, 'no issue should be off the table, provided it is good for children and fair to Teachers.'

Ms. Weingarten said that because of the country's financial crisis and the threat of cuts to schools by city and state governments, Teachers needed to confront possibilities that unions previously considered anathema. "With the exception of vouchers, which siphon scarce resources from public schools, no issue should be off the table, provided it is good for children and fair to Teachers," she said.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Praises adversary.

 

 

 

 

 

Warms to Performance Pay

Perhaps the most contentious proposal Ms. Weingarten addressed was performance-based pay, a subject President-elect Barack Obama has publicly expressed an interest in pursuing, and one she has produced a version of with Mayor Bloomberg as president of the United Federation of Teachers.

"Why not pay Teachers more for taking on additional responsibilities?" she asked. "Why not pay Teachers more for working in hard-to-staff schools or in subjects with shortages of qualified teachers? Why not pay Teachers more for working with their fellow Teachers for schoolwide excellence?"

Ms. Weingarten pointed to the opt-in performance-pay system in effect at 200 New York City schools as an example of how to approach merit pay fairly. "Student achievement already has improved so significantly in 128 of those schools that their staffs are getting bonuses," she said. "In 189 of these schools, Teachers have voted to participate again, while only two schools have voted to opt out." She also proposed compromises on Teacher tenure, another issue on which she has clashed with the Mayor and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein in New York. "Some people think that tenure is a guarantee of a job for life. It isn't, and it shouldn't be," she said. "Teachers are the first to say, 'Let's get incompetent Teachers out of the classroom.' So let's talk about creating a tenure process that both promotes excellence and ensures fairness."

Ms. Weingarten said she wanted to work with local chapters to make the tenure process "more rigorous," citing unions in Toledo, Cincinnati and Rochester as examples of evolved systems that "can help colleagues learn their jobs, help struggling colleagues to do better, and counsel unsuccessful colleagues out of the profession."

Regarding assignments, she counseled that "the schools with children who have the greatest needs must not be staffed by Teachers with the least experience," saying that veteran instructors were willing to work in tough schools as long as they had a strong support system. She credited the union's Teacher Centers in this regard.

"Schools with 80-plus percent poverty levels now have the same proportion of experienced Teachers as other schools," Ms. Weingarten said. "That goes a long way to evening the odds for kids who often start out with the deck stacked against them."

Other issues pressed in the speech were universal pre-K programs across the country, more training for high-technology and "green" jobs in high schools, and the expansion of union-run charter schools and community schools that stay open late.

Calls 'No Child' Too Rigid

Ms. Weingarten stopped short of flatly condemning the No Child Left Behind Act, saying that it "has become a stand-in for real discussions at the state and national levels about a robust education policy that prepares our children for the 21st century." But she did note that its standardized nature meant that schools spent too much time on test preparations, depriving "particularly the least affluent" students of a well-rounded education.

She closed by saying that the country's fiscal crisis was "scary" and that extracurricular and after-school programs were already being devastated by cuts. "Quality education can't be achieved on the cheap," she said. "But disinvesting in education in the long term is far more costly."

Ms. Weingarten was introduced to the Press Club by her frequent sparring partner, Mayor Bloomberg, who said that the UFT's negotiations with the city, particularly on merit pay, "set a precedent for school systems across the country," and "[showed] just what can be achieved by working together." He praised Ms. Weingarten's flexibility on union issues and jovially congratulated her on her new position at the AFT.

Liberating for Him

"It's the perfect job. It calls on all of your amazing talents and your wide experience. It also means that I won't have to negotiate directly with you anymore," the Mayor said. "At least once you stop being both AFT president and head of the UFT. Isn't there some kind of violation of holding two jobs at the same time? I mean, after all, I'm just trying to hold on to one job."

The Mayor introduced her in Washington, Ms. Weingarten said in a subsequent phone interview, because "I asked him. We were talking about lots of things; we end up having breakfast periodically throughout the year. I have become a very big believer in collaboration."

She contrasted their dealings with the contentious situation in Washington D.C., where the city's Schools Chancellor has fought with the Teachers union on issues like tenure and merit pay.

"Given what's going on in terms of Washington D.C., even though [she and Mr. Bloomberg] have disagreements at times and we start from very different points of view, it is a good lesson to everyone that labor and management can work together with your eyes on the prize of educating children," Ms. Weingarten said. "[The Mayor and I] have learned to listen to each other and to respect that each other wants to get the right things done by kids ... I hope that, for example, the Mayor of Washington D.C. and the Chancellor and the union president in D.C. heard that."